As talks at the DefCon hacker conference have become increasingly sophisticated and technical over the con's two decades, the conference badge has evolved to keep pace, morphing from simple PVC and metal plates into electronic gizmos with chips, circuit boards and games begging to be hacked.

This year's badge, designed and produced by Ryan Clarke (aka LostboY, or LosT for short) continues that tradition, with some new twists.

Clarke, who's also the creator behind DefCon's annual Mystery Box Challenge, is a crypto and puzzle master who has been involved in DefCon for 13 years.

He felt that previous badges required hardware hacking skills that raised the bar too high for attendees whose talents were focused on software hacking.

So this year he's designed an electronic badge that includes an embedded game. But figuring out the badge's secrets requires hardware and software hacking skills, as well as puzzle and crypto acumen appealing to the math and language geeks in the crowd. His plan is to force attendees with different skills to combine their talents to crack the badge's mysteries.

"Those doing the hardware hacks will have to find someone to do the puzzle side," Clarke says. "It will drive them to find someone from the other side of the house."

Each year, several badges are produced for different categories of conference attendees and participants - attendees get Human badges, and there are also badges for press, vendors, speakers and goons (the volunteers who are the core of DefCon, managing its network, security and speakers).

The black box in the picture above conceals the Uber badge - Uber badges are the black badges given at the end of the conference each year to winners of the DefCon contests. The badge gives the holder a lifetime of free admission to DefCon. Clarke has embedded a crypto puzzle on the Uber badges that will only be revealed to badge recipients on Sunday - though they may decide to scan the puzzle and put it online.

This year, Clarke has added a new badge for artists, which will be handed out to the artists and musicians who will be performing or participating at the con.

The Goon badges, the red ones (above) with a scarab beetle on them, are designed to affect other badges as the goons pass conference attendees. Clarke's personal badge, as well as the badge of conference founder Jeff Moss, will also have an effect on other badges in their vicinity.

"In theory," Clarke says, "it should be possible to figure out where we are by looking at the residual effect on other badges. It's kind of like you leave behind a wake of information."

Original Concept Sketch

The original concept sketch for the Human badge. The badges were designed so that the circuit layout on the top portion of the badge and the crypto and other design elements on the bottom part of the badge were all drawn on a single piece of plastic.

CAD

A CAD drawing showing the circuit layout for the badge.

The software used in the badge is free and open source and allows badge hackers to program their badges in Assembly language, C or Spin, a language similar to Python.

"There's a lot of variation in the software, and all the platforms are covered as well," Clarke says.

The badges use a multi-core processor so that users can reprogram them while the game on the badge continues operating.
"This allows for parallel programming or concurrent programming," Clarke says. "With this chip you can have eight individual processors running at the same time. Because of this, you can generate video, if you add a single wire you can broadcast a TV signal. It's a very capable chip."

"My goal," he says, "was to give [badge holders] a development platform so the badge game is fun for the conference, but at the end of the day, this circuit is designed to teach them how to deal with this chip environment."

Walk Like an Egyptian

The badges measure about six inches by two inches and use a general-purpose circuit that is designed to be a building block and development platform. Clarke says he hopes attendees will use the badges long after the conference is over to hone their soldering skills attaching and connecting components.

The badges include a mini USB plug to program their badges, as well as a VGA header.

"If you use the VGA header and also put a mouse and a keyboard on it, you can have a mini computer," Clarke says.

Talking Badges

The badges include circuit-mounted LED in blue and red and an infrared transmitter and receiver so that the badges interact with one another as they come into contact. Clarke expects this will result in some innovative hacks.

This year's badge continues a mystery that Clarke began with last year's badge, which provided clues about a secret agent connected in some way to a fictitious secret society.

The badge last year included an augmented reality complement with a paid actor who played the role of a secret agent, handing off codes to attendees during the conference. Attendees had to crack a puzzle to know when and where in the conference hotel he would do the handoff. The conference program included dossier pictures of the agent so players could spot him.

This year the badge continues the story of that secret society of computer elites who band together for a specific, as yet unknown, purpose that badge holders will have to figure out.

The badge story will continue after the conference is over, in a comic book that Clarke is producing with a DefCon artist.

Design Notes

The story of the secret society traces the concept of hackers and cryptography throughout history going back to Egyptians and the Pythagoreans.

"The whole story revolves around this society that has existed through time with a hacker mindset," Clarke says.

Clarke, who has a background in mathematics, electrical engineering and languages, incorporated a lot of symbology, crypto and binary into his design.

But participants won't find things of interest solely on the badge. They'll also find hidden puzzles and clues to the secret society seeded in their lanyards, on the floors, walls and ceiling of the conference venue, as well as on the program, CD-ROM and conference website.

"I am everywhere this year for the game," Clarke says. "You can't go to DefCon this year and not at least interact with the game somehow. It's even on the hotel room keys."

Mystery Theater

At least one Human badge design includes an Easter egg that will be familiar to classic film lovers.

GhostMan

Clarke has hidden a number of Easter eggs in the badges, including this one with a familiar ghost haunting the design.

Hot Off the Press

Badges in past years were manufactured in China, which created a number of import headaches. This year they were produced in the United States. As a result, the badges cost more to fabricate.

Production Sheets

The badges as they looked during the cutout phase.

Humans in the House

There are more than 20 versions of the Human badge being distributed to conference attendees.

One part of the badge puzzle includes seeing if badge holders can spot all of the variations.

The badges will make note of who an attendee comes into contact with so that at the end of the conference, owners can plug a USB cable into their badge and open a terminal window to see how many other types of badges they came across during the conference. The badge will rate the badge holder based on the level of his or her social interaction, beginning with the lowest level, the "wallflowers."

Attendees who come into contact with all of the different badges at the conference, will unlock an Easter egg.

Production Screens

The multi-stage production process included these screens or stencils for creating the circuit layout.

The Final Cut

The badges after they'd been printed and cut.

Vegas or Bust

The badges being prepared for shipping to the conference in Las Vegas.

Clarke says producing the badges in the United States increased the cost, making them the most expensive badges DefCon has ever made. He won't say exactly how much they cost, but notes they're more expensive than badges last year that were made of titanium and cost $10 apiece.

LostboY

This year marks the second year in a row that Ryan Clarke (aka LostboY, or LosT for short) designed the DefCon badge. Clarke also runs the annual Mystery Box Challenge contest at DefCon, which he launched at DefCon 9. Clarke says he likes to create the kind of challenges and puzzles that he wishes someone else would create for him to solve.

This photo of Clarke appears in the DefCon 20 program. The blurred wording at right is additional crypto that attendees will be able to see in the program.

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